Royal Rajasthan – The Last Bits and Pieces

Some things that I probably missed or didnt really need to feature in the 10 days travelogue post, Im putting them up here –

# There was a wedding organised inside the couryard of City Palace, Udaipur. Oh my! The whole decor was awesome – the rich colors of the curtains, the huge hanging lamps and the dias with the thrones – it was a scene out of some period movie and oh-so beautiful! Got to know it was a wedding organised by someone in Delhi. Must’ve cost a bomb!

# I decided to unearth all my skirts and capris that I hadnt worn in a really long time and wore all of them during this trip. Tried to loose weight before the trip which didnt happen but still glad that I took them all off their hibernation.

# Initially, I was very apprehensive about the nearly 1 year old S accompanying us for the 10 day road trip. But that one is such a cutie darling! Not a whimper, no tantrums – never cried for too long or too much. Hungry – whimper, feed/eat sleep. He also peacefully played with whatever got into his hands. Muuahh muah to him.

# Many people suggested that we visit the Karni Mata temple – A temple filled with Rats on the way to Bikaner. But thankfully, by the time we were anywhere close to that temple it was
already dark and since both BIL and I refused to step in even if we went, we ditched the idea.

# I will proudly admit that I did the entire planning-What places to see, including where to stay and what each city has to offer and how long the car journeys will take plus the costs, then sent the whole excel to BIL and co-sis S. BIL made a few changes with respect to the routes to shorten some journeys and that was enough! Coming from BIL, who is the expert planner in the family – it meant a great deal!

# Having said that, I have to acknowledge that Trip advisor and Savari.com have been most informative and helpful. Ofcourse Agoda and expedia for some hotel deals too…

# I know I have mentioned it in the post before but I still feel bad about Chittorgarh. It was a huge let down compared to the idea I had in mind. I only wish that it would be better maintained; or that, I didnt have that highly romanticised idea 😦

# Everywhere in Rajasthan, the roads are wide and well maintained – as long as they are the highways.Roads are good mostly but the inter city roads are the same old, same old – full of potholes and from Udaipur to Ranthambore at Kota there was hardly any road. The best was the drive to Tanot Mata from Jaisalmer – obviously so, since the roads are maintained by the Border Roads Authority.

# At most of the fort gates, there were rajasthani men dressed in Traditional attire playing either the tabla or the Sarangi or the Kamaycha (Yes, I looked up on Wiki 😉 ) which was a delight to watch and hear. The most popular being – Morni Baga Mein Nache and Kesariya Baalma – rather the only ones I could recognise and enjoy.

# I cannot end this series without mentioning this – For a long long time now, ever since I have wanted to visit Rajasthan, I’ve dreamt of spending atleast 1 night stay at Udaipur Taj Lake
Palace. For obvious financial reasons, we dropped the idea this trip – it was costing us half of the whole trip to spend just 1 night there- and that too without any meals or deals!
Knowing that we would hardly be in the hotel while we explore Udaipur and we didnt have the luxury of extending our trip by one more night JUST for this stay, we ditched the idea. To compensate for that, the hubby searched for a lake facing, ‘on the lake’ kind of place and we
found the lake pichola hotel with that awesome view and balcony.
During the Jag Mandir boat ride, we saw the Taj palace and it looked not very different from the lake palace we were
staying. So, no regrets there. But but but…. I have to put it here for posterity that the hubby has promised to take me to one of the 5 star palace hotels when we turn 50! 😛

# Some of the best foods we had was the kulfi at Bikaner home stay, soft aloo parathas, some good masala chais on roadside dhabbas sitting on those charpai.The bestest breakfast was the
one in Udaipur – Poha and kachori and Samosa.Though it might have been the reason for Chutku’s stomach upset.
Which is also the main reason that I fuss about where and what we eat and insist that we stay away from the oily/fried food while we travel. Also, to always see the expiry date of anypackaged food we buy – though the husband cribs that I fuss too much.And while Chuktu was
suffering, I HAD to point it out to the hubby – right? Right!

# The highlight of the holiday – Sighting the elusive tigers. Worth spending every penny for 2 safaris and worth Chutku cribbing that he was bored. Worth the cold and the wait time and the travel and every thing that even remotely didnt go as per plan through out the trip – This
just took the cake and the icing. Something to remember for the rest of our lives 🙂

# Though we never got to eat much of traditional Rajasthani food-we found it a bit too dry and hard, we enjoyed the Churma – the best Churma on the last day at the Ranthambore Bagh lodge –
a sweet end to the trip 🙂

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One thought on “Royal Rajasthan – The Last Bits and Pieces”

traditional rajasthan food , that reminds me of something , on a great day year ago we made a FOOLISH decision to ride the bike all the way from chandigarh to ahmedabad, and we crossed a few places , at one stop we had this Spicy Channa OH MY GOD .. with Jawaar ki roti…

and the price of udaipur totally with you its too expensive we also did not stay ..